The work of the Minimum Wage Determination Commission has been completed as of 1st of June 2022. The new monthly minimum wage, which will be effective as of July 1, was announced to the public at a meeting attended by President Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Bilgin, TİSK President Özgür Burak Akkol and Türk-İş President Ergün Atalay. Speaking at the meeting, President Erdoğan announced that the net minimum wage was determined as 5 thousand 500 liras, with an increase of 30 percent. The minimum wage was previously 4 thousand 235 liras.
President Erdoğan said, “The state will support employers with 100 liras per worker. This is done, intermediate increment. We will determine the actual minimum wage at the beginning of the year,” he said.
Reminding that the minimum wage was excluded from tax with the regulation made at the beginning of the year, and this application is valid for the amount up to the minimum wage in all wages, Erdoğan stated that now an average increase of 300 liras will be reflected in the salaries of public employees, since the interim increase in the minimum wage will also be exempt from tax. Erdoğan also reminded that the salaries of public employees and civil servant pensions will increase by more than 40 percent and an inflation difference will be given. Underlining that inflation is a global problem, Erdoğan said, “We have taken and continue to take measures to compensate for the loss of welfare for each of our people. We did not allow employment to decline. We support the employees in the face of the cost of living.”
Minister of Labour and Social Security Vedat Bilgin said, “Inflation distorts income distribution. Since the employees cannot regulate their own income in the face of inflation, the social state comes into play. We will remove the pressure of inflation on the workers,”.
On the other hand, the decision of the Minimum Wage Determination Commission on the new minimum wage, which will be effective as of July, entered into force by being published in the duplicate issue of the Official Gazette yesterday.
TİSK President Özgür Burak Akkol said, “We are making maximum efforts for the benefit of all stakeholders. “We tried to find the balance,”. Expressing that the main target should be to increase the average wage level in the country, Akkol urged all businesses to increase the wages of their employees. On the other hand, the new minimum wage of 5 thousand 500 liras did not go below the level that Türk-İş called “our red line”, but it did not reach the hunger limit of 6 thousand 391 liras.
Cumulative increase 95 percent
In the statement made by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, “Compared to the January 2022 period, there has been an increase of approximately 30 percent in the net minimum wage. Compared to 2021, the cumulative increase rate of the net minimum wage was approximately 95 percent. This increase in the minimum wage provides an additional income advantage for all employees as well as the increase in the tax exemption amount.
